TURTLES LEAVE ON 5,300-MILE FLIGHT

Seven green turtles left Fort Lauderdale Monday and began a 5,300-mile journey to their South Atlantic home -- all for a little romance.

The turtles were the subject of international diplomacy last week when officials from Florida, the United States and Great Britain cut through red tape so the turtles could be allowed to return to the Ascension Islands to nest.

The turtles had outgrown their tanks at Fort Lauderdale's Ocean World and had become aggressive because they were sexually mature, said John Fletemeyer, a Nova University turtle researcher who accompanied the turtles to the Ascension Islands.

Fletemeyer said the turtles were unable to be kept in captivity any longer, and the only way they could be saved was to get them home before the end of nesting season.

After nesting season, the turtles' innate magnetic senses will lead them to join their species in the annual migration to Brazil, he said.

Early Monday morning, the turtles were placed in special cardboard crates with plywood bottoms and transported by truck from Ocean World to Patrick Air Force base near Melbourne. It took four people to handle each turtle.

The turtles were put on an Air Force cargo plane and began their 15-hour trip at about 2 p.m.

Accompanying the turtles were Fletemeyer, Sgt. Bernard Brewer of the Florida Marine Patrol, and two members of I KARE Wildlife Coalition in Woods Hole, Mass. -- the agency that financed the $10,000 trip.

"The turtles should be winging their way. All appears well," said Larry LaRochelle, acting chief of the permits branch for the U.S. Wildlife Service, Monday afternoon.

Local experts originally thought there were only six Ascension turtles weighing about 150 pounds each in the Ocean World tank.

But when they began transporting the turtles, they were surprised to find seven, with one weighing about 250 pounds, said Dave Esdale, general manager of I KARE.

"That was a big surprise. Apparently no one kept track of how many Ascension turtles were there," he said. "We were kind of happy to find out about the seventh."

While everything went smoothly Monday, the turtles almost couldn't make the flight home.

Last week, Fletemeyer asked for help from the U.S. Interior Department when he discovered he needed an internationally recognized permit to move the turtles out of the country.